Birthday Cake a la Mark

It was my 28th birthday last week and as a special treat, my boss sent me to Boston for a payroll conference where I could discuss the benefits of electronic data reporting. And you thought your job was boring. Needless to say, with the exception of my glorious dinner out with Dr. Bender, this trip was mostly exhausting. I was able to change my flight and come home 2 hours earlier than I'd expected so I called Mark with the good news. He seemed more panicked than excited. When I arrived home, the most beautiful coconut cake I've ever seen awaited me (on my Seder plate).
Mark used Alton Brown's coconut cake recipe and Ina's coconut frosting recipe. It was delicious and a wonderful surprise to come home to.
Now, Mark is famous for his ice cream cakes so I was very eager to try this foray into the world of baking. However, I quickly discovered that our noble Mark had run into a serious cake making problem. In my delight and eagerness to crack the champagne and eat some cake, I forgot that I don't actually own cake tins. Whenever I make a cake, I make it in a sheet pan for 40 people or I make cupcakes. How did this man manage to make a gorgeous 2 layer cake with no cake tins? Then I walked into the kitchen...
Holy crap...
Mark had been forced to make due with two pie plates instead. This was his first attempt at making a cake and then, no cake tins. I was mortified that I lacked such a basic kitchen item. I have a million kitchen gadgets, but no cake tins. Mark's cake caused him a good deal of consternation because the cooking time was all off. It turned out to be pretty dense because it didn't rise as well as it would have in a cake tin, but the flavor was fantastic.
But also waiting for me, like a sign from heaven, was a birthday package from my best pal, Lauren. I ripped through the packaging like a kid on Christmas morning to discover that Lauren knows Mark and I better than we thought. Her gift? Among other things, was this:
A Cake Tin!!

The fact that the very thing he needed had been sitting in the apartment the whole time, albeit wrapped up in a package from Southcentral PA, was basically the funniest thing ever. Now we will be able to make beautiful cakes for Lauren and everyone else.